Benelli Leoncino 250 review, road test

The smallest Leoncino in the Benelli line-up proves to be a very competent bike for the city streets.

Published on Jan 17, 2020 08:00:00 AM

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Narrow profile and wide handlebar gives you an agile riding experience.

Instrument cluster is a basic digital unit. Could do with a TFT dash.

Tail tidy gets a compact design, and is a neat aesthetic element.

The Leoncino 250, as the name suggests, is a smaller iteration of the Leoncino 500. It shares an almost identical design philosophy and essentially looks like a shrunk-down version of its older sibling. A number of aspects are shared between the two bikes, like the scooped seat, mudguard-mounted rear number plate holder, black panels on the tank, and even the little lion emblem on the front fender. What’s different though is that these elements on the 250 don’t have as much detail as they do on the bigger bike. For instance, the seats don’t feature the cross-stitched pattern and the lion emblem loses out on some of the more intricate lines. The headlight too, is different; it uses a pill-shaped LED headlamp instead of the round unit of the 500.

LED headlight features a distinguishing design, works well.

Overall, the Leoncino is quite a good-looking motorcycle. It’s sharp and compact, with unique elements like the stubby tail contributing to this design philosophy. It’s not what you’d consider an unconventional design, but it certainly does get a fair share of attention out on the road.